Patricia Marsh

February 1, 1934 - May 27, 2006

Patricia was born in Fort Riley, Kansas – the first of many homes that Pat, her sister and three brothers would know as “army brats”. In 1946, at the end of WWII, Pat attended the DoD school in Mannheim in Occupied Germany. Her classroom was located in what had been a private home right around the corner from her family’s housing quarters in a suburb of Mannheim called Feudenheim.

Pat graduated from Chico State University in California and received her master’s degree from Michigan State University. Although Pat’s early teaching was in California, Alaska and Hawaii, she spent more that thirty years as an outstanding first grade teacher at M&K and Bob Hope Primary Schools on Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan. Her classrooms were structured in a marvelous array of learning centers where her students loved to read and to learn. Among her many awards, Pat was named a Distinguished Teacher by the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars in 1991 and received an invitation to the White House where she accepted the award.

Pat was active in the education association, AEAO, and served many terms as a faculty representative at her school. She loved traveling to exotic places in the Far East. She liked shopping for unique antiques in the local markets and shops and a trip to Hong Kong always meant enjoying High Tea at the Peninsula Hotel. In like manner, Pat loved the people and the cultural life of Okinawa. She was very happy living in her apartment overlooking the East China Sea and enjoying the gorgeous sunsets.

Pat retired in 1991 and returned to Salinas, California, where she entertained guests and introduced them to John Steinbeck country and to the Big Sur coast. She loved working on jigsaw puzzles and always had one ready for guests to help complete. She continued to teach reading with the Lyceum of Monterey County until her illness.

Pat’s love of teaching and her love of children continued to the end. She inspired and motivated us and will always remain a part of our fondest memories.